Sqin'-lang Palace

The Sk′ên′-ljang Palace (Shinasthana: 顯陽宮, sk′ên′-ljang-kjung) a royal palace located in the Kien-k'ang citadel and the seat of the Themiclesian Emperor. It contains the Court Hall where the Government sits, the houses of Parliament, and the grounds of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.

Name

Inscriptions dating to the beginning of the Common Era bear the name sk′ên′-ljang-kjung (見昜宮), which is usually intepreted as the name of the palace written in monumental style, without determinatives and in more archaic forms. The word sk′ên′ meant "appear, see" depending on context, and ljang "brightness, warmth". kjung meant palace and is used found in the names of other palaces.

Geography

The Sk′ên′-ljang Palace is situated around half-way on the northern walls of the Citadel of Kien-k'ang. The palace forms a trapzoid very close to rectangular, with its two shorter sides measuring 1.73 km, and longer sides 1.81 km; the north-south axis points to 22° NNE. The north side of the palace is around 2 m wider than the south; this appears to be a technical error, as almost all texts state the palace is rectangular. The grounds of the palace tilt slightly towards the north, with several slight natural humps that were subsequently converted into daises.

Outer palace

The outer palace is bound by the outer walls (宮垣)

Modern buildings

Little Crystal Palace

In the southwestern corner of the palace, on the site of the quarters of the Royal Guards, a copy of the renowned Crystal Palace in Anglia was commissioned by Lord Tl'jang-mjen's government in 1876 and completed in 1878. The copy was exactly half the original in each dimension, but it was meant to stand as a permanent building rather than a temporary exhibition space, like the original. The building, soon nicknamed "Little Crystal Palace" (小水晶堂), hosted the National Trade Exhibition that Sng′rja′s government began in 1872. Emperor Mjen, who personally saw the Crystal Palace in New Hadaway in 1857, encouraged the building's styling, telling the engineers he would be visiting to see "how similar it is to the original."

The Little Crystal Palace was originally maintained by public funds, but in 1880 it was leased to a private company that rented the space to merchants, smaller exhibitions, and recitals for income. The company was responsible for the building's availability when the National Trade Exhibition was held each November. In 1936, the original burned down in New Hadaway, and not more than four years thence the Themiclesian copy also burned down due to Menghean bombing on Jan. 2, 1940. The building was rebuilt in 1955 according to its former dimensions and roughly on the same site.

See also

• Themiclesia
• Middle Palace
• List of palaces in Themiclesia